


Private Finds A Hero

by alexcat



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Penguins of Madagascar
Genre: Birthday fiction for Jenny, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:22:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22022503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexcat/pseuds/alexcat
Summary: Private finds a new hero in the Avengers.
Kudos: 7
Collections: Of Elves and Men





	Private Finds A Hero

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for Jenny, for her birthday. She made the cover.

[](https://imgur.com/j9dnv8c)

It was wintertime in New York, which meant the crowds were fewer, but the penguins spent more time outside. All except Private. 

Private was sitting on his favorite pillow, surrounded by his favorite snacks and he was holding his favorite Lunacorn and waiting for the show to come on TV. Skipper was training the others, but everyone knew that Private got very cranky if he missed his favorite show. He’d join the others when the show was done. And after he’d eaten all his snacks!

Instead of the familiar unicorns he loved, a voice on the television said, “Today we bring you a movie adventure you’ll never forget. _Thor_. “

The panic he felt at not seeing his beloved _Lunacorn_ show was followed by rage that anyone would have the nerve to take his favorite thing from him!!! How dare they? 

He squeezed his lunacorn in his arms as tears of sadness and frustration ran down his little penguin cheeks. He’d watch the awful replacement just to feel justified in his anger. The movie came on and there was a lot of boring human stuff, but he thought that he’d been right that it was a terrible replacement. 

But then there he was!!!

Thor! 

He was better, bigger, handsomer, blonder and more wonderful than any human Private had ever seen! He was as noble as Skipper and he had a deep voice that made little Private’s flippers quiver! He was perfect, even more perfect than a lunacorn! 

How could he have ever doubted the wisdom of the television gods? 

He watched and watched and watched until finally, Skipper came inside looking for him. 

“What is that?” he asked, looking at Thor yielding his mighty hammer. 

“He is my new hero! Isn’t he wonderful? Do you think he’d like being a zookeeper?” Private was bouncing up and down as he spoke. “Do you think he’d like a penguin for a pet? Or a mate? Or for dinner? Oh, isn’t he wonderful?”

“Whoa, slow down there! Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself?” 

“Nope! I’m in LOVE!” He twirled around and around, sighing happily. 

Skipper finally waddled away mumbling “Idiotic penguin” under his breath. 

*

Private’s love of the God of Thunder did not abate, much to Skipper’s dismay. _He_ was accustomed to being Private’s number one hero and he wasn’t too happy to share with this, this blond behemoth! 

“I’ll bet he doesn’t even eat fish!” Skipper said as Private scanned stations for more movies of his hero. 

“More for us, then! I tell you, he is my hero!” 

Over the next few days, Private saw several movies with Thor in them, along with a cadre of ‘heroes’, but none of them were as beautiful as Thor. He looked around in the closet to see if he could find a hammer to play Thor. No luck but Skipper did have a red towel that he decided would make a wonderful cape exactly like the one that Thor wore. He’d ask Rico if he had a hammer somewhere. 

Skipper was concerned. Actually, Skipper was jealous. He didn’t mind sharing the spotlight with Lunacorn, who was a silly thing at best, but this Thor person was a formidable opponent. He needed to figure out what to do to vanquish his rival.

The next morning, Private was watching television when he saw a commercial that Thor and the rest of the Avengers were going to be in New York City for something called a premier. He didn’t know what that was, but he wanted to go. 

“Skipper, they’re coming! They’re coming here!” he shouted at Skipper after the commercial finished, not paying much attention to the fact that it was 2:30 in the morning and Skipper was fast asleep. 

“Who is coming?” Skipper asked groggily. “Men, intruder alert!” he shouted as Private’s words sank in. 

“Thor and the Avengers, sir. I do want to see Thor, I really do.” 

“We’ll see, Private. Right now, we go back to sleep.” Skipper had no intentions of ‘seeing’ anything. He wasn’t taking Private out on a dangerous expedition just to see some silly man in a red cape! What nonsense. 

Oddly enough, there was a stop at the Central Park Zoo for the Avengers on their press tour in New York. The Studio had arranged for the actors to show up in costume and do some public service announcements about the zoo and the importance of preserving many animals from extinction. They would visit the lions, the hippos and the penguins.

One fine Friday afternoon a few weeks later, a couple of limos drove up and out piled the Avengers – Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow and a rather downsized Incredible Hulk. Word spread through the zoo like wildfire after Mason and Phil spotted them at the entrance. Nothing got by Mason and Phil.

Skipper heard it from Mort, who thought he’d like to see the feet of the superheroes to compare them with his eminence, King Julien. He thought he might not tell Private at all. After all, no one could compare to him, Skipper, as a hero and the poor kid would end up brokenhearted by this - this - Thor person. 

He needn’t have worried. Mort had told Private as soon as he’d finished telling Skipper. He was almost as excited as Private. Hero feet! 

“I like the one with the shield! I want to see his boots!” Mort crowed as they made their way toward the front of the zoo. They did have to duck and hide now and again to keep the zookeepers from seeing them, but then they saw that the Avengers were headed for the penguin enclosure. 

Mort and Private ran back as fast as they could. They slid to stop as the zookeepers escorted their guests into the penguin habitat. Skipper, Rico, and Kowalski came waddling out just as Private hopped in line behind them. 

Thor was magnificent! Private was shocked when Skipper waddled up to the tall human and nudged his leg with his beak. He took off running and slid into Skipper, who fell into Thor. Zookeeper Alice tried to shoo them away. 

“Silly penguins! Stop bothering our guests!” she said as she tried to shove them away from Thor. 

Thor bent down and picked up Private. 

“What a cute little fellow,” he said as he smiled right into Private’s face. “He’s friendly, too.” 

Skipper kept looking up at Thor in the same way Private was looking at him, when Black Widow knelt down and spoke to him, petting his head. “You’re such a handsome guy,” she crooned to the leader of the zoo’s penguin cadre. Skipper preened like a peacock at the attention of the beautiful heroine. Thor and Private were completely forgotten.

Captain America seemed captivated by Rico and Kowalski, who were flitting about as if they were mad, though in truth, they were doing a security scan on the newcomers to see if they were safe to befriend.

“All clear, Skipper,” Kowalski shouted out as Alice gave him and Rico a couple of nice fish. “Alice isn’t bad either,” he yelled as he swallowed his fish whole. 

Cap and Iron Man got Alice to let them feed the pair and soon, they had friends for life. 

Mort crept closer and closer to the Hulk, his oohs and aahs quite loud. “Look at his feet!!!” Mort cried happily as he gazed at the big green feet of the Hulk. They were almost as perfect as King Julien’s were. Mort decided he’d never tell his king that. Or maybe he would! He laughed crazily, which was quite normal for Mort. 

Private saw and heard nothing but the voice of Thor Odinson. He was so handsome and so big! Private thought he might faint from joy. Thor fed him a fish, too. “I come from a land of cold, too, little buddy!”  
Private wished he could make sounds like these humans could. He wanted to tell Thor how much he adored him, when Alice spoke.

“They have a television and we’ve noticed they’ve been watching Avenger movies lately. I think they are excited to meet their heroes.” 

“They watch television?” Iron Man asked. 

“They’re quite intelligent, our little penguins. They keep trying to escape though so far, we’ve outsmarted them.”

Private looked at Thor and shook his head. That’s what she thought! He and the others had escaped more times than he could count, literally, not having fingers to help him.

Thor spoke rather quietly to him, too low for Alice and the others to hear. “I speak lots of languages, little buddy. I’m glad you’re a fan. You and the others keep up the good work of keeping the zoo safe and maybe we’ll get to visit again someday.” He set Private down and gave him one more fish. 

Soon, the Avengers left to go to another appearance. Pretty soon, Kowalski and Rico sported a shield and a red helmet to go along with Private’s red cape. Skipper dressed in black and insisted that he was not a girl! 

King Julien sat in amazement as Mort told him that his feet were puny in comparison with the Hulk’s green ones. 

*

“Why did we go to the zoo?” Iron Man asked as they drove away. “There weren’t even any cameras there. I didn’t mind doing the ads, but you’d have thought there would be press.” 

Thor grinned. “I got a letter from this kid named Skipper, who loved the penguins and suggested we see them. He said his favorite one was named Private.” 

Skipper always had a few secrets from the others.


End file.
